Protesting against the decision by the German government to accept the peace treaty of Versailles, a group of soldiers under Wolfgang Kapp took control of Berlin on March 13, 1920. The trade unions called a general strike, which, after some doubt, was supported by the Ebert government. The strike paralyzed life in Berlin and contributed to the failure of the […]

According to the website 'Anecdotes on Kim Il Sung' (http://north-korea.narod.ru/anecdotes.htm) the North Korean leader visited a department store on March 13, 1958. Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) bought a pair of socks of inferior quality so that he would not stand out among the people.

labor shortage and layoffs.jpg Chinese worker activists have been documenting and analyzing the situation and struggles of factory workers in the Pearlriverdelta in South China over the past few years. Since 2012 they have been publishing reports the magazine "Factory Stories" (工厂龙门阵 gongchang longmenzhen). The central goals of this publication are […]

by Ayanda Kota, Pambazuka The Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) was formed in August 2009 to respond to the crisis of unemployment and the commoditization of essential services in a society dominated by corruption and greed. As Steve Biko said, we blacks are tired of standing at the touchlines to witness a game that we should […]

18 July 2011 Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement The Victory in the Kennedy 12 Trial is a Victory for all the Poor in South Africa The Kennedy 12 have been acquitted of all the charges bought against them after the attack on our movement in September 2009. It is a great day for the 12, their […]

Last night more than 100,000 people attended 3,500 meetings in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to watch a video-cast of Bernie Sanders and to begin to organize his on-the-ground campaign. Some of the meetings in various parts of the country had as many as 200 people in attendance. The meeting I attended in Crown Heights, Brooklyn was attended by 2 […]

by United Auto Workers Local 2865 representing 13,000 teaching assistants and other student workers throughout the University of California system, called on the AFL-CIO to end its affiliation with the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA) in a resolution passed by its governing body on July 25. This is the union’s resolution passed by the unio […]

The following document was discussed at Solidarity's 2015 Convention last weekend and approved by a majority vote, with the addendum that our organization also has many members engaged in the Green Party and that we support their work and the Jill Stein campaign. This resolution is intended to outline an approach to the Sanders campaign and his supporte […]

Putin's Russia is an imperialist state dominated by a capitalist oligarchy that controls the state and that has developed a bellicose attitude toward its neighbors, whom the oligarchy reproaches for having taken advantage of the collapse of the Soviet Union in order to escape its century-long tutelage. Embracing an ultra-nationalist ideology that gives […]

Experts horrified by DNA scheme

A new scheme to take DNA samples from asylum-seekers in an attempt to prove their nationality was condemned as inhumane and scientifically unsound on Sunday.

The UK Border Agency launched the Human Provenance pilot project without fanfare last month. It seeks to use DNA and isotope analysis to verify asylum-seekers’ nationality and decide if they are entitled to enter Britain.

The pilot scheme is targeting refugees from the Horn of Africa, who the Home Office claims are pretending to be from war-torn Somalia to make their asylum claims more likely to succeed.

But leading scientists pointed out that the project was deeply flawed and based on false assumptions.

Geneticist David Balding of Imperial College London told Science magazine: “Genes don’t respect national borders, as many legitimate citizens are migrants or direct descendants of migrants and many national borders split ethnic groups.”

And Alec Jeffries, who pioneered human DNA fingerprinting, told Science: “The Border Agency is clearly making huge and unwarranted assumptions about population structure in Africa.”

He said the “extensive research” needed to show whether DNA could pinpoint ethnic origin in the Horn of Africa “simply has not been done.”

“Even if it did work (which I doubt), assigning a person to a population does not establish nationality – people move!” said Mr Jeffries.

“The whole proposal is naive and scientifically flawed.”

The test uses tissue samples to establish ancestry through mitochondrial DNA – the maternal line – and Y chromosomes, which come from the paternal line.

But University College London population geneticist Mark Thomas, who called the scheme “horrifying,” pointed out that ancestry was not the same as nationality.

And even tests to prove ancestry are often “little better than genetic astrology,” he told Science.

Asylum campaigners raised serious fears about the morality of the project.

A Refugee Council spokeswoman told the Star: “We would have major concerns about the impact this will have on incredibly vulnerable people, people who arrive here scared and alone.

“This programme feeds into the culture of disbelief where the initial presumption is that someone is lying.

“The asylum process should be about protecting those whose lives are in danger, but it has become more and more combative.”

UK Border Agency documents claim that the scheme will be voluntary, but the spokeswoman argued that “many families may feel they are in no position to refuse.

“This programme is not humane and does not take into account the complex situations of many asylum-seekers.”

The Border Agency said: “This pilot scheme uses analysis of the asylum-seeker’s DNA, which helps determine a person’s ancestral background, and the chemical composition of hair and nail samples which, as they are affected by diet, therefore can indicate where the individual has been living in the world.

“These tests are always used in conjunction with other inquiries such as language analysis and face-to-face interviews, to indicate the possible origin of an individual and help successfully return them to their true country more quickly.”